1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing scheme for transferring contents of various types for which the copyright protection is necessary.
2. Description of the Related Art
In conjunction with the spread and digitalization of the computer networks in recent years, the products called digital information home electronics are becoming popular. Also in conjunction with the start of the ground digital broadcasting, the products such as digital broadcasting compatible TV, set-top box, DVD recorder, etc., are expected to become more widespread. When these digital home electronics are connected by networks, it becomes possible for the users to enjoy contents of various types through the networks, so that the utility value can be great.
Here, the contents refer to video data and speech data such as those of MPEG2, MPEG4, etc., as well as document data such as text data and still image data, etc. The contents formed by these types of digital data have an advantage that they can be copied easily without the quality degradation, but there is also need to be careful about the copyrights of the contents.
For example, consider the case of transmitting the contents that require the copyright protection from a transmission device to a reception device. It is preferable to limit a range for exchanging the contents that require the copyright protection within a prescribed range such as a range of the proper right such as a range of the private use defined by the copyright law or within a range smaller than that, such that the contents cannot be exchanged with the third person beyond that range. A method for limiting a delivery range of the contents using the registration processing is described in detail in Japanese patent application laid open No. 2002-194491, for example.
However, in the case of carrying out the AV data transmission by the IP (Internet Protocol), the problem regarding the copyright protection can arise easily because the IP can transmit data without a physical limitation such as a cable length. Namely, in the IP, the technique for logically connecting remote IP networks such as VPN (Virtual Private Network) is widely used, and by using this technique, it becomes possible to transmit the AV data by logically connecting a device connected within a home network of Mr. X's house in an A region to a device connected within a home network of Mr. Y's house in a B region (which is geographically distanced from the A region). For this reason, the contents of Mr. X's house cannot be confined within the home network inside Mr. X's house, and it becomes possible for Mr. Y at a remote place to view the contents owned by Mr. X by connecting to the home network of Mr. X.